Aramco tops the List for third year in a row
Aramco, the world’s biggest oil and gas company, with sales of over USD400.5 million in sales, and a market cap of USD2.3 trillion, has topped the Forbes Middle East Top 100 Listed Companies for 2022. This is the third year in a row that Aramco has topped the list.
Industrial giant Sabic, based in Saudi Arabia, followed second on the list to Aramco with USD46.6 billion in sales and a market valuation of USD100.5 billion. QNB Group, the only Qatari company to make it to the top 10, came in at third place on the list with sales of USD14 billion and a market cap of USD59.1 billion.
The other companies that comprise the top 10 on the list include Saudi National Bank at fourth position, Al Rajhi Bank in fifth, First Abu Dhabi Bank in sixth place, Saudi Electricity in seventh place, followed by Emirates NBD in eighth position. a& claimed the ninth spot, while Taqa Group and Saudi Telecom Company shared the tenth spot. Alba (Aluminium Bahrain) made it to the forty-seventh place on the list.
The annual ranking of the Forbes Middle East Top 100 Listed Companies focuses on the largest, most valuable, and most profitable companies in the Middle East.
The list was compiled based on data collated from listed stock exchanges in the region, and companies were evaluated based on sales, profits, assets, and market value. Companies that were listed, but had not submitted their audited financial statements for 2021 were excluded from the list, according to a spokesman for Forbes.
The most dominant region on the list is Saudi Arabia, with 33 companies from the region making it to the coveted list, including Aramco. Companies in the UAE combine for the second place with 25 entries, and Qatar is in third place with 16 companies on the list. The three Gulf nations account for almost 75 percent of the rankings combined. Kuwait had eight companies on the list, while Bahrain along with Morocco had five. Jordan and Egypt tied with three companies each, while Oman featured two companies on the list.
The banking and financial services sector was the most represented on the rankings list with forty-two entries, which was the same as the previous year. Out of the top ten companies on the list, half are made up of banks. The second most populated category comprised the industrial and telecommunications sector with eleven entries each. However, companies from the energy and petrochemicals sector accounted for over 65 percent of the aggregated income of the 100 companies on the list.
Combined, the top 100 companies earned a net income of USD201.7 billion in 2021, which was a massive jump of over 121 percent compared to the previous year, which added up to USD91 billion. Aramco alone accounted for USD400.5 billion in sales. The combined market value of the top 100 companies crossed USD4 trillion, which marked a jump from the previous year’s USD3 trillion. Total sales of these companies rose 44 percent to USD794 billion, while the total asset value climbed to USD4.2 trillion.
A powerfully conducive business environment in the Middle East paved the way for 24 new companies to join the list this year, and included recent listings like DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority), Fertiglobe, Alpha Dubai, ACWA Power, Adnoc drilling, AD Ports and Nahdi Medical.